fern/ 
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Ezra's  dilemma. 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #479 


diidbisemx 


EZRA'S    DILEMNA 


A  SERMON 


mat,} 

On  Friday,  August  21st,  1863,  * 
BEING  THE  DAY  OF 

HUMILIATION,  FASTING  AND  PRAYER, 

Appointed  by  Ihe  President  of  the  Confederate  States, 

BY  THE 

Rt      Rev.    STEPHEN    ELLIOTT,  D.  D., 

Rector  of  Christ  Church,  and  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese  of  Georqia. 


It  is  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord  than  to  put  confidence  in  man."— Ps.  118,  v.  8. 


Sefifcaimafc,  Georgia:     . 

POWER   PRESS    OF   GEORGE   N.    NICHOLS. 

1863. 


SAVANNAH,    Vrursr  31st,    1863. 

RiGHT  REVEREND  and  VKliv    !>::\i;   Sik  : 

At  a  meeting  held  in  Christ  Church,  of  the  Wardens  and  Vestrymen  of 
said  Church,  aresolution  was  adopted,  requesting  you  to  furnish  for  publi- 
cation a  copy  of  a  sermon  preached  in  Christ  Church  on  the  2lsl  oi 
August  inst.,  the  day  of  Fasting,  Humiliation  and  Prayer,  appointed  by  the 
President  of  the  Confederate  States:  believing  that  such  publication  will 
not  only  gratify  the  Congregation,  but  be  a  public  benefit. 


W.  P.  HUNTER 
\VM.  H.  CITYLER.  j 


>  Wardens. 


HENRY  D.  WEED.  ] 

W.  THORNE  WILLIAMS.    | 
JOHN'  WILLIAMSON,  i 

P.  M.  KOLLOCK, 
GEORGE  A.  GORDON.        I 
ROBT.  HABERSHAM.  I 


Vestrymen. 


SAVANNAH,  September   1,   1863. 
To  the  Wardens  and  Vestry  of  fihrist  Qhurch  ; 

Gentlemen: — Yours  of  the  31st  August,  requesting  me  to  furnish  you  a 
copy  of  the  Sermon  preached  in  Christ  Church,  Savannah,  on  the  late 
Fast  Day,  reached  me  this  morning. 

My  design  in  that  Sermon  was  to  recall  to  your  recollection  the  very 
high  ground  which  was  taken  by  us  in  the  beginning  of  this  con  lest,  and 
to  arouse  you  to  its  maintenance  under  all  the  conditions  and  sacrifices 
which  it  involved,  believing  that  k 'The  hand  of  our  God  is  upon  all  them 
for  good  that  seek  him."  If  I  have  at  all  succeeded  in  that  design,  my 
purpose  has  been  attained. 

In  pursuance  of  your  request,  the  Sermon  has  been  placed  in  the  hands 
of  a  Publisher. 

Very  respectfully  your  friend  and  Rector, 

STEPHEN  ELLIOTT- 


£» 


tfu  gittffl  of  tit  §mm  ti  ©wrflis. 


The  Pre8idenl  of  the  Confede  .  having  issued  his  Proclama 

lion,  callingupon  the  people  of  the  Confed*  racj     ua  people  who  believeth 
that  the  Lord  reigneth  and  thai   his  overruling  Providence  ordereth  all 
things     to  unite   in    prayer  and   bumble  submission  under  his  chastening 
and   to  b<  avor  on   our  suffering  country,"   and  having 

appointed  Friday,   the  Day  of  Fasting,  Humilia- 

Prayel 

•'  •  n  itani  Epi  • 

ntion  of  th<  ctive  Congregations  to  this  appointmei 

nday  preceding  the  Friday  appointed  for  the  Fa  u.  urging  upon  them, 
tounl  of  the  depressed  condition  of  the  country,  its  observance  in  all 
due  humiliation  of  body,  mind  and  spirit. 

A  nd    I   do  turth<  r  direct  semble  their 

ons  upon  the  day  appointed  for  the  Fast,  mid  to  ase  the  follow- 

vice  : 

Morning  Pra\rer  as  usuaJ  to  the  Psalter. 

ilms  for  the  da}      the  20th,  -i  Ith  and  !  Wth. 
First  Lesson     i  >eut.  chaptei  1 1th. 

*  - '    the  whole  Litany. 

IWore   tlv<>  Genera]  Tha  introduce  the  Confession  which  pre- 

e  for  Ash  Wednesday,  and  the  following 

PRAY  E3  JEL  . 

r  all  the  kingdoms  of  men  ; 

-    down  and  tu  raise  up,  to  save  thy  servants  and  to 

their  enemies,  let  thine  ears  be  now  open  unto  our  prayers  and  thy 

mercifi  on  our  trouble  and  (>  Lord,  do  thou  judge 

our  cause  in  r  we  have  sinned 

and  deeply  penitenl  for  it.  I  o 
as,  o  Lord,  belongeth  confusion  of  face  as  a1  this  day,  ye1  we  are  bold, 
because  of  thy  long  suffering  and  patience  towards  us,  to  pray  thee  to  lift  up 
once  more  !  thy  countenance   !  1  to  bless  us  and   our 

the  band  of  our  enemies, 

ore  us,  that  our  enemies  may  be  confounded  at  thy 

The  race  is  be  swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the.  strong,  but 

our  trust  is  in  the  name  ,>i'  the  Lord   our  God.      Hoar  us.  O  Lord,  tor  the 

glory  of  thy   name  and   for  thy   truth's   sake,    through  Jesus    Christ    our 

Lord.     Am  ex. 

STEPHEN*   ELLIOT'! 
Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Georgia. 


#  e  r  m  0  H 


Ezra— Chap.  VIII,  vv.  21,  22,  23. 

21.  Then  I  proclaimed  a  fast  there,  at  the  river  of  Ahava,  that  we  might 
afflict  ourselves  before  our  God,  to  seek  of  him  a  right  way  for  us.  and  for 
our  little  ones,  ;md  for  all  our  substance. 

22.  For  I  was  ashamed  to  require  <>f  the  King  a  band  of  soldierb  and 
horsemen  to  help  us  against  the  enemy  in  the  way;  because  we  had  spoken 
unto  the  King,  saying,  The  hand  of  our  God  is  upon  all  them  for  good  that 
seek  him  ;  but  his  power  and  his  wrath  is  against  all  them  that  forsake 
him. 

23.  So  we  fasted  and  besought  our  God  for  this  :  and  he  was  entreated 
of  us. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  revolution  in  which  we  are 
yet  so  sternly  engaged,  we  have  boldly  assumed  the  position, 
that  we  were  fighting  under  the  shield  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 
of  him  who  <•  sitteth  upon  the  circle  of  the  earth,  and  the  in- 
habitants thereof  are  as  grasshoppers."  This  has  been  our 
boast  and  our  consolation.  It  has  supported  us  under  all 
our  sacrifices,  and  has  cheered  us  through  all  our  days  of 
darkness.  The  Psalmist  never  struck  his  harp  to  the  ani- 
mating strain — u  The  Lord  of  Hosts  is  with  us,  rhe  God  of 
Jacob  is  our  refuge"— in  more  confident  faith  than  we  have 
re-echoed  it.  Not  only  has  it  been  chanted  in  the  sanctua- 
ries of  Christianity,  but  our  civil  rulers  have  recognized  it 
in  their  papers  of  State,  and  our  great  Captains  have  pro- 
claimed it  from  the  head  of  their  armies  in  victory  as  well  as 
,  under  defeat  The  soldier  and  the  statesman,  the  man  of 
the  sword  and  the  man  of  the  gown,  has  each  borne  it  upon 
his  escutcheon,  and  our  supreme  Legislative  assembly  has 
engraven  it  upon  our  national  seel.  All  our  official  docu- 
ments will  go  forth  in  th^  future,  with  the  sacred  inscription 
"  Deo  Vindice,"  and  announce  to  the  world  our  trust  and 


A    SERMON. 


our  strength.  We  have  not  only  nurtured  this  feeling,  which 
seemed  to  come  upon  the  Confederacy  as  an  inspiration, 
within  our  own  hearts,  hugging  it  there  as  a  part  of  our  re- 
ligious life— looking  to  it,  in  individual  faith,  as  a  light  shi^ 
ningin  a  dark  place— but  we  have  blazoned  it  abroad,  ard 
are  conspicuous  this  day  before  the  world  as  a  people  who 
have  taken  the  Lord  for  their  God,  caring  for  nothing  so 
much  as  "for  the  good  will  of  him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush." 
We  have  said  not  to  one  King  only,  bur  to  all  Kings  within 
the  reach  of  our  voice — not  to  earthly  Kings  merely,  hut  to 
the  King  of  Kings — "  The  hand  of  our  God  is  upon  all  them 
for  good  that  seek  him  ;  but  his  power  and  his  "rath  is 
against  all  them  that  forsake  him.'*  We  are  bound  to  this 
declaration  by  the  most  solemn  covenants;  both  private  and 
public,  and  by  it  must  we  now  stand  or  fall.  We  cannot 
therefore  require  of  any  foreign  agency — we  should  be  asha- 
med to  do  it — "  bands  of  soldiers  and  horsemen  to  help  us 
against  the  enemy  in  the  way."  We  have  deliberately  made 
our  choice.  We  have  taken  the  Lord  of  Hosts  as  our  Sa- 
viour, and  to  him  must  we  now  turn  with  fasting  and  with 
prayer,  and  f*  seek  of  him  the  right  way  tor  us,  and  for  our 
little  ones,  and  for  all  our  substance." 

This  is  our  only  resource.  We  find  ourselves  in  a  condi- 
tion which  calls  for  a  wisdom  superior  to  our  own,Jor  a  pow- 
er greater  than  we  can  control-  A  day  of  darkness  and  of 
gloominess  lias  unexpectedly  settled  down  upon  us,  and 
without  being  able  Lo  perceive  any  natural  causes  sufficient 
to  account  for  it,  we  are  conscious  thai  -  our  hands  hang 
down  and  that  our  knees  are  feeble,"  and  thai  we  are  in  peril 
of  our  cause.  It  is  a  consciousness  which  has  come  upon 
us  from  on  high,  and  which,  I  firmly  believe,  cannot  be  re- 
moved by  any  earthly  means.  It  must  be  lifted  from  our 
hearts,  where  it  rests  like  a  weight  of  lead,  by  the  hand  of' 
the  Lord  which  placed  it  there.  If  we  look  at  our  Govern- 
menu  it  is  as  stable  as  ever,  directed  by  the  same  clear  head 
and  sound  judgment  which  have  so  well  guided  our  affairs. 
If  we  turn  to  our  armies,  they  are,  in  proportion  to  those  of 


A    SERMON. 


our  enemy,  as  numerous  and  as  well  appointed  as  they  have 
ever  been,  and  are  commanded,  with  one  immortal  exception, 
by  the  same  skilful  Captains,  who  have  so  often  led  them  to 
victory.  If  we  measure  our  resources,  they  are  greater,  in 
many  respects,  than  they  have  ever  been  before.  It  we  ex- 
amine the  field  of  action,  we  stand,  except  in  one  direction, 
precisely  where  we  did  a  year  ago.  What  is  it  then,  which 
has  spread  over  the  Confederate  States,  so  suddenly  and  with- 
out any  adequate  reason,  such  a  robe  of  darkness?  Two 
months  ago,  and  our  prospects  never  looked  brighter;  our 
hearts  were  full  of  hope,  and  our  watchmen  thought  that  they 
perceived  the  dawn  of  a  happier  day.  The  cry  of  "all's 
well,"  had  just  resounded  over  the  land,  when,  in  a  moment, 
all  was  in  eclipse;  dark  clouds  blotted  out  the  proi 
light;  a  day  of  blood  and  slaughter  and  captivity  rose 
us;  the  sound  of  lamentation  was  heard  through  the  land; 
our  heaitssank  within  us  under  the  shock  and  grew  ;is  insen- 
sible as  stone.  Nothing  like  it  had  occurred  even  in  the 
worst  moments  of  the  past.  Twice  before  had  we  been  de- 
feated and  depressed,  but  we  had  risen  from  tl 
chastened  yet  defiant.  From  this  recent  shock  we  have  not 
rallied  as  we  should  have  done,  had  we  been  stricken  by  the 
hand  of  man  alone.  We  still  continue  most  unaccountably 
paralysed,  as  inactive  as  if  we  were  courting  the  condition 
of  slaves,  it  is  a  visitation  from  God,  to  teach  us  our  own 
weakness  ;  it  is  the  hiding  of  his  countenance  from  our  ru- 
lers, from  our  armies  and  from  our  people  to  make  us  un- 
derstand that  present  victory  and  final  success  depend  alto- 
gether, upon  his  presence  and  his  favour. 

We  are  placed  in  the  like  dilemna  in  which  Ezra  found 
himself  and  his  people.  We  have  assumed  a  very  grand 
but  a  very  solemn  position,  and  we  cannot,  without  utter 
shame  and  confusion  of  face,  abandon  it,  and  confess  that  we 
have  been  trusting  in  vain  and  unfounded  expectations.  We 
are  compelled  to  acknowledge  this  day,  supposing  our  des- 
pondency to  have  any  proper  foundation,  either  that  we  our- 
selves have  been  deceived  in  supposing  that  God  was  on 


8  A    SERMON. 


our  side,  fighting  for  us  against  our  enemies,  or  we  must  de- 
clare  him  to  be  a  Being  in  whom  no  reliance  can  be  placed 
— fickle  and  faithless — favoring  to-day  and  abandoning  to- 
morrow— puffing  up  with  hope  in  the  beginning,  only  the 
more  surely  to  destroy  in  the  end.  Let.  us  examine  both 
these  positions,  and  determine  whether  it  is  really  necessary 
to  lodge  ourselves  upon  either  horn  of  this  dilemma  ;  wheth- 
er God  may  not  be  on  our  side,  even  while  we  are  suffering 
defeat  and  disaster;  whether  he  may  not  be  firm  in  his  pur- 
poses and  persistent  in  his  good  will,  even  while  we  are  pro- 
voking him  to  anger  and  forcing  him  to  hide  his  face  from 
us  and  from  our  cause.  A  review  of  the  grounds  upon  which 
we  claimed,  for  so  long,  the  presence  of  God  with  us  in  our 
conflict,  may  restore  our  confidence,  and  a  consideration  of 
the  reasons  why  he  is  dealing  harshly  with  us,  may  lead  us 
to  repentance  and  a  happier  condition. 

We  believed,  when  we  began  this  conflict,  that  the  hand  of 
God  was  with  us,  because  we  had  the  right  and  the  true 
upon  our  side  under  every  aspect  in  which  we  could  view 
the  case  between  us  and  our  adversaries.  We  could  not 
think,  and  we  cannot  yet  think,  that  he  who  rules  in  right- 
eousness would  permit  the  injured  and  the  oppressed  to  be 
overwhelmed  by  the  tyranny  of  brute  force,  and  consigned 
to  degradation  and  infamy.  He  might  try  severely  our  for- 
titude—he might  chasten  heavily  our  sins — he  might  keep 
us  long  in  the  furnace  of  affliction,  but  in  the  end,  he  would 
deliver  us  and  justify  our  trust  in  him.  "  He  is  the  Rock, 
his  work  is  perfect ;  for  ail  his  ways  are  judgment ;  a  God 
of  truth,  and  without  iniquity,  just  and  right  is  he." 

The  question  of  right  in  oar  movement  upon  general  princi- 
ples is  settled,  as  between  us  and  those  who  are  trying  to 
subjugate  us,  by  that  charter  which  was  adopted  by  our  fore, 
fathers  as  a  declaration  of  civil  rights,  and  to  the  observance 
of  whose  principles  they  pledged  their  lives,  their  fortunes 
and  their  sacred  honour.  This  charter  was  not  meant  only 
for  their  times— it  was  put  forth  for  all  the  world,  and  for  all 
times.    It  has  been  held  up  continually  before  the  nations  by 


A  SERMON. 


onr  orators— it  has  been  shaken  defiantly  in  the  face  of  the 
old  governments  of  Europe  by  onr  statesmen— it  has  overtur- 
ned thrones  and  broken  np  dynasties.  It  belongs  to  ns  to-day 
as  fully  as  it  belonged  to  onr  ancestors,  and  upon  it,  if  we  in- 
tended to  be  true  to  them  and  to  their  principles,  we  were 
bound  to  plant  ourselves.     This  declaration  laid  it  down  as 
a  fundamental  principle,  "  that  whenever  any  form  of  gov- 
eminent  becomes  destructive  of  the  ends  for  which  govern- 
ments were  instituted  among  men,  it  is  the  right  of  the  peo- 
ple to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a  new  government, 
laying  its  foundation  on  such  principles  and  organizing  its 
powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  ef- 
fect their  safety  and  happiness."     Upon  this  principle,  the 
colonies  of  Great  Britain,  then  existing  upon  this  continent, 
considered  themselves  justified  in  declaring  themselves  inde- 
pendent of  the  mother  country,  and  they  declared  it  with 
nothing  like  the  show  of  right  which  we  exhibited  when  we 
followed  their  example.     They  were  colonies,  and  assumed 
their  independence  through  the  right  of  revolution.  We  were 
sovereign  States,  and  asserted  ours  by  simply  resuming  our 
rightful  sovereignty.  They  flew  to  arms  before  any  legislative 
action  had  given  color  to  their  violence,  and  thus  their  pro- 
ceedings had  a  smack  of  rebellion  in  them.     We  dissolved 
our  connection  with  our  sister  States,  not  after  war  had  al- 
ready dipped  its  foot  in  blood,  but  through  Conventions,  con- 
stitutionally assembled,  chosen  freely  by  the  people,  whose 
ordinances   were   afterwards   ratified    by   the   same  people. 
They  rushed  into  their  conflict  with  the  mother  country  with 
quite  a  half  of  their  fellow  citizens  against  them.    WTe  seceded 
with  an  unanimity  unparalleled  in  such  a  revolution.     They 
fought  through"  the  war  of  independence  with  many  of  the 
very  best  people  of  the  Colonies  against  them.     We  have, 
up  to  this  time,  conducted  our  conflict  with  our  people  firm, 
determined  and   united.     If  our  forefathers   were   right  in 
their  action,  then  are  we  right,  our  enemies  themselves  being 
the  judges,  for  they  had  very  much  less  to  complain  of  than 
we.     The  wrongs  of  the  government  of  Great  Britain  affec- 


10  A  SERMON. 


ted  only  their  civil  rights;  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  us, 
threatened  our  whole  social  condition.  Beginning  with  the 
Missouri  question  we  bore,  I  cannot  say  patiently,  but  still 
we  bore,  for  forty  years,  wrong  upon  wrong,  and  never  pro- 
nounced for  separation  at  all  hazards,  until  we  perceived 
that  every  barrier  which  kept  back  the  angry  floods  of  fanat- 
icism and  infidelity  had  been  broken  down.  All  the  lessons 
we  had  learned  from  our  forefathers  not  only  justified  our 
action,  but  pointed  out  to  us  our  duty.  Whatever  other  na- 
tions may  say  of  us,  the  mouth  of  our  present  adversaries 
is  stopped  upon  every  principle  of  justice  and  truth. 

If  we  pass  from  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  from 
the  general  principles  upon  which  our  forefathers  justified  a 
change  of  government,  to  tha  Constitution  which  united  us, 
for  certain  specific  and  limited  purposes,  to  our  sister  States, 
we  shall  find  that  we  have  ever  kept  the  right  upon  our  side. 
We  have  never  encroached  upon  the  privileges  which  that 
Constitution  guaranteed  to  our  partners  in  the  Union.  We 
have  always  been,  confessedly,  the  strict  constructionists. 
We  have  asked  no  more  than  that  the  Constitution  should  be 
observed  to  its  very  letter.  Writh  a  liberality  which  really 
amounted  to  weakness,  and  which  received  no  return,  we 
yielded  point  after  point,  and  gave  up  territory  after  territo- 
ry, rather  than  break  up  the  government  under  which  we  had 
lived  at  least  in  safety.  We  generously  stripped  ourselves 
of  our  rightful  heritage,  to  give  our  adversaries  the  means  of 
expansion  upon  their  own  principles.  Those  States  which 
are  now  persecuting  us  most  implacably,  were  formed  out  of 
territory  ceded  to  the  government  by  the  State  of  Virginia. 
When  by  our  arms  new  domain  was  conquered,  the  acts 
which  partitioned  them  into  Territories  and  incorporated 
them  with  the  United  States,  were  clogged  with  provisos 
which  excluded  us  from  them  as  settlers,  unless  we  would 
consent  to  sever  the  ties  which  bound  us  to  our  households. 
Liberty  bills  covered  the  statute  books  of  the  Northern  States, 
intended  to  wrest  our  property — property  most  distinctly  re- 
cognized and  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution — from  us,  if  we 


A  SERMON.  11 


dared  to  carry  it  beyond  a  certain  line.     Should  we  be  pru- 
dent enough  not  to  carry  it,  societies  were  formed,  receiving 
the  patronage  and  encouragement  of  many  of  the  best  peo- 
ple of  the   North,   whose  business  it  was,  through  secret 
agents  sent  among  us  and  living  upon  our  trustful  hospitali- 
ty, to  entice  our  slaves  away  from  their  homes,  and  to  receive 
and  protect  them  until  they  could  be  placed  beyond  the  reach 
of  their  masters.     An  armed  raid  was  arranged  and  carried 
out  against  us,  which  was  expected  to  be  accompanied  by 
insurrection  and  murder  and  rapine.     When  its  leaders  were 
punished,  their  memories  were  held  sacred,  and  their  ashes 
glorified.  Against  all  this  we  used  every  constitutional  mode 
of  resistance.     We  appealed  to  the  promises  of  their  forefa- 
thers, to  the  memories  of  the  past,  to  the  better  feelings  of 
the  present.     All  was  in  vain.     The  conservative  portion  of 
the  North  either  could  not  or  would  not  restrain  these  aggres- 
sions.    At  last  we  determined  to  strike  for  our  homes  and  for 
our  firesides,  but  not  until  a  party  had  been  organized  and 
was  triumphant,  which  threatened  to  overturn   our   whole 
domestic  and  social  life.     Which  party  was  right  in  all  this? 
The  Northern  States  in  their  persistent  aggressions,  or  we 
in  our  resistance  ?     Can  any  man,  with  any  sense  of  justice, 
hesitate  how  to  decide?     What  else  could  we  do?     Could 
we  permit  every  thing  that  made  life  valuable  to  be  torn 
from  us,  and  we  the  while  stand  mute  and  impassive?     We 
did  what  every  high-minded  people  would  have  done,  trans- 
ferred the  question  from  the  courts  of  Earth  to  the  court* 
of  Heaven,  and  committed  our  cause  to  him  who  reigneth 
in  righteousness. 

If  we  go  yet  a  step  further,  we  shall  see,  that  as  between 
us  and  our  adversaries,  even  admitting  all  their  positions,  we 
still  had  the  right  with  us.  Supposing  slavery  (for  I  argue 
now  upon  the  hypothesis  of  our  adversaries)  to  have  been  a 
wrong  to  the  slave  and  an  evil  to  the  country,  I  would  ask, 
who  did  the  wrong  and  who  bears  the  evil?  Where  did 
these  slaves  come  from  -Did  who  brought  them  here  ?  They 
came  from  their  native  haunts,  brought  here  by  the  forefathers 


12  A  SERMON. 


either  of  those  very  men  who  are  fighting  this  battle  with  us, 
or  of  those  who  are  standing  coldly  by,  seeing  us  cut  each 
other's  throats.  These  slaves  were  imposed  upon  us — im- 
posed upon  us,  in  many  cases,  against  our  wills — imposed 
upon  us  just  so  long  as  it  was  profitable  for  those  hypocrites 
to  bring  them  here.  And  now  when  they  have  become  in- 
terwoven with  our  whole  social  life,  forming  a  part  of  our  rep- 
resentation, of  our  prosperity,  of  our  habits,  of  our  manners, 
of  our  affections,  all  these  ties  are  to  be  rudely  broken  asun- 
der, not  at  our  will  or  in  our  own  time,  but  at  ihe  will  and 
in  the  appointed  time  of  those  who  forced  this  evil  upon  us. 
Were  our  people  required,  upon  any  principle  of  equity,  to 
submit  to  be  the  shutlle-cocks  of  these  contemptible  game- 
sters? to  be  the  tools  of  such  mock  philanthropy  and  such 
real  wickedness?  Was  this  our  breeding?  Was  this  the 
spirit  which  Burke  foreshadowed  as  the  temper  of  the  slave- 
holder? Have  they  who  committed  the  wrong  and  took 
money  for  it — aye,  received  their  full  bond, flesh  and  all — the 
right,  whether  in  the  sight  of  man  or  God,  to  dictate  to  us, 
who  have  paid  the  bond  and  rescued  the  poor  savages  from 
their  greedy  and  bloody  grasp  and  made  men  and  christians 
of  them  ?  And  who  bears  the  evil,  as  they  have  been  pleased 
to  term  it  ?  We  bear  it,  and  have  borne  it,  and  have  en- 
deavored to  turn  it  into  a  blessing,  and  have  many  of  us 
been  manyrs  in  its  cause.  At  that  day  of  terrible  judgment, 
when  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be  disclosed,  many  will 
stand  before  God,  who  shall  be  able  to  show  that  they  have 
sacrificed  feelings  dearer  than  life  itself  for  the  benefit  of 
these  very  slaves,  who  have  spent  days  of  toil  and  nights 
of  prayer  to  understand  what  was  best  for  their  temporal 
and  eternal  slate.  Many,  very  many,  I  know,  have  been 
insensible  to  their  duty  and  have  neglected  the  great  trust 
committed  to  their  charge,  and  for  this,  punishment  has 
fallen  upon  us,  but  many  have  acquitted  their  consciences 
before  God.  Let  their  increase  attest  their  general  comfort! 
Let  their  change  from  the  tattooed  savage  to  the  well-bred 
courteous  menial,  bear  witness  to  their  culture  !     Let  their 


A  SERMON.  13 


quiet  subordination  thro'  all  this  fierce  conflict  speak  trumpet- 
tongued  to  the  world  of  their  treatment.     Let  the  numbers 
who  flock  to  the  table  of  the  Lord  attest  to  the  nations  the 
missionary  work  which  is  going  on  amongst  them.     Here 
we  are.  engaged   in  one   of  the  bloodiest  wars  on  record, 
pressed  on  every  hand,  with  the  enemy  at  onr  very  doors, 
inviting  them,  alluring  them,  tempting  them, deceiving  them, 
and  yet  who  wait  upon  ns  morning  and  night  ?     Who  keep 
the  keys  of  our  houses  and  who  nurse  and  tend  upon  our 
children  ?   Who  cook  the  food  we  eat  and  minister  to  all  onr 
necessary  wants?     These  very  slaves  !     And  does  the  head 
of  any  one  of  us  rest  less  easily  upon  his  pillow?     Does  any 
one  tremble  as  he  sees  his  little  ones,  dearer  to  him  than  life, 
nestled  in  their  bosoms  and  sung  to  sleep  with  their  lullabys  ? 
Does  any  one  require  a  taster  of  his  food,  an  analyser  of  his 
drink?     What  does  ali  this  mean  ?     How  does  it  harmonize 
with  the  ground  assumed  by  our  enemies,  that  we  are  inflic- 
ting upon  these  people  a  great  natural  and  moral  wrong? 
It  means,  that  upon  the  score  of  humanity,  there  is  no  rea- 
son for  this  cruel  invasion.     It  means  that  we  are  guiltless 
of  the  insulting  and  calumnious  charges  which  have  been 
laid  at  our  doors.     It  means  that  we  have  been  not  only 
masters  to  these  people,  but  so  far  as  circumstances  have 
permitted  ns,  that  we  have  been  friends  and  instructors.     It 
means  that  all  the  blood  which  has  been  shed — that  all  the 
misery  which  has  been  endured — that  all  thedesolation  which 
has  been  visited  upon  our  land — that  all  the  curse  which  is 
laid  up  in  the  future,  whether  for  the  white  race  or  the  black 
race,  is  upon  our  enemies,  and  that  God  will  require  it  at 
their  hands. 

But  besides  having  reasons  like  these,  depending  upon  the 
righteousness  of  our  caus^,  to  believe  that  God  was  with  us, 
we  had,  likewise,  another  ground  of  hope  arising  out  of  the 
character  and  motives  of  those  who  were  warring  against  us. 
We  had  said  in  the  words  which  Ezra  put  into  the  month  of 
his  people,  not  only  that  "  the  hand  of  God  is  upon  all  them 
for  good  that  seek  him,"  but  "  his  power  and  wrath  is  against 


14  A  SERMON. 


all  them  that  forsake  him,"  and  we  felt  no  doubt  that  the 
party,  which  had  formed  and  was  directing  this  crusade 
against  us,  had  grown  up  out  of  elements  unchristian  and 
really  atheistic.  Pretending  to  a  peculiar  philanthropy,  it 
was  a  philanthropy  opposed  alike  to  the  word  and  the  will 
of  God.  Instead  of  believing  in  the  curse  of  God  upon  sin, 
which  curse  manifested  itself  in  poverty,  in  suffering,  in  sla* 
very,  in  a  thousand  forms  which  made  the  world  as  mis- 
erable as  it  is,  they  determined  that  human  effort  could  re- 
move them  all.  Instead  of  bowing  before  the  word  of  God, 
which  said  "  the  poor  shall  never  cease  out  of  the  land;"  in- 
stead of  submitting  to  the  Divine  decree  imposed  upon 
Adam  and  his  posterity,  "Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake  ; 
in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life;"  in- 
stead of  acquiescing  in  the  triple  curse  upon  the  descendants 
of  Ham,  "  And  he  said,  cursed  be  Canaan,  a  servant  of  ser- 
vants shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren.  And  he  said.  Blessed 
be  the  Lord  God  of  Shem  ;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant. 
God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of 
Shem  ;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant,"  they  turned  their 
rage  against  the  word  of  God,  and  covered  it  all  over  with 
ridicule  and  with  abuse.  Catching  the  echo  of  the  French 
revolution,  they  set  up  liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  as  their 
idols,  and  virtually  dethroned  the  God  of  the  Bible.  They 
did  not  work  that  the  evils  of  social  life  might  tade  out  qui- 
etly under  the  influence  of  Christianity,  but  they  defied  God, 
because  there  were  any  social  evils  at  all.  They  were  ready, 
in  their  fanatical  worship  of  these  terrible  delusions — delu- 
sions made  more  terrible  than  ever  because  of  the  immense 
developements  of  physical  science  and  material  prosperity — 
to  blot  out  all  the  records  of  Divine  inspiration,  should 
they  be  found  in  opposition  to  their  human  conclusions.  It 
was  not  Truth  which  led  them  on,  it  was  Passion.  It  was 
not  the  path  of  pure  morality  which  they  were  treading;  it 
was  the  track  of  a  lawless  licentiousness,  which  led  over  the 
ruins  and  ashes  of  the  altar  and  the  fireside.  x\t  home,  its 
fruits  have  been  fraud,  corruption,  unbelief,  falsehood,  free 


A  SERMON.  15 


love.  Abroad,  wherever  their  arms  have  been  victorious, 
those  fruits  have  been  theft,  rapine,  cruelty,  fornication,  des- 
olation. The  face  of  this  party  was  for  a  time  covered  with 
a  silver  vail,  but  the  vail  has  been  lifted  and  lo,  the  hideous 
features  of  the  false  Prophet  !  It  carried,  for  a  time,  the 
semblance  of  wisdom,  for  it  developed  immense  material 
prosperity,  but  has  proved  itself  to  be  "  the  wisdom  which 
descendeth  not  from  above,  but  is  earthly,  sensual,  devilish. " 
Can  God  be  with  a  cause,  engendered  out  of  such  materials, 
led  on  by  such  Prophets  and  Apostles?  Will  he  permit 
crime,  falsehood,  wickedness,  unmercifulness,  to  be  triumph- 
ant in  the  end  ?  Will  his  power  be  with  those  who  have 
forsaken  him,  and  trampled  upon  his  word  and  his  immuta- 
ble morality  ?  Impossible  ;  he  is  only  biduig  his  time  while 
he  chastens  us  for  our  sins  and  tries  our  faith,  and  while  he 
ripens  them  for  slaughter  and  vengeance. 

Did  any  of  us  ever  doubt,  in  the  first  years  of  this  conflict, 
that  God  was  on  our  side  ?  Did  not  the  whole  land  re- 
sound with  qno  universal  shout  of  thanksgiving  and  of 
praise,  as  event  after  event  plainly  indicated  God's  pres- 
ence with  us?  Did  we  not,  in  sol'-mn  festival,  send  up  our 
acknowledgement  of  gratitude,  of  devotion,  of  unswerving 
faith  ?  Did  we  not  proclaim  it  from  the  house  tops,  that 
our  God  was  manifesting  himself  to  us  almost  as  palpably 
as  he  had  done  to  his  own  chosen  people  ?  The  remarkable 
unanimity  with  which  the  seceding  States  came  out  of  the 
Union — the  harmony  with  which  a  new  and  permanent 
Constitution  was  adopted — the  skill  with  which  vexed  ques- 
tions were  avoided,  and  discordant  elements  brought  into 
combination — the  recognition  of  God  as  our  Lord  in  the  face 
of  all  the  world,  were  assumed,  on  all  hands,  as  tokens  of 
the  presence  of  his  Spirit  in  our  Councils  and  of  his  good 
will  towards  the  rising  Government.  And  as  with  our  civil 
affairs  so  with  our  military  affairs.  The  first  victory  at  Man- 
assas, when  God  smote  that  proud  army  with  His  fear,  and 
gave  us  time  to  gather  our  resources  and  discipline  our 
armies  for  the  future — the  capture  of  Norfolk,  which  sup- 


16  A  SERMON. 


plied  us  with  heavy  artillery,  while  we  were  preparing  to 
manufacture  it  for  ourselves — the  supplies  of  arms  and  of 
ammunition,  which  came  in  from  abroad,  often  at  the  most 
propitious  moment,  to  enable  us  to  sustain  the  struggle,  un- 
til we  could  procure  them  for  ourselves — the  unaccountable 
delays  in  the  movements  of  our  enemies,  when  promptness 
and  decision  might  have  overwhelmed  us, — the  frequent 
changes  of  their  Generals  at  times  the  most  critical  for  us — 
the  expiration  of  the  term  of  service  of  their  troops,  happen- 
ing often  when  their  armies  most  needed  their  presence — 
the  marvellous  successes  of  our  little  Navy,  coming  to  us 
just  when  our  hearts  were  most  in  want  of  comfort  and  hope- 
all  these  and  a  thousand  minuter  circumstances  which  were 
deeply  felt  when  they  occurred,  were  all  taken  to  our  bo- 
soms and  hugged  there  as  precious  proofs  that  God  was 
with  us  of  a  truth.  They  were  to  us  what  the  miracles  at 
the  Red  Sea  and  in  the  wilderness  were  to  the  Israelites. 
Have  we  forgotten  all  these  things  ?  Have  they  faded 
from  our  hearts  and  from  our  memories  because  of  a  few 
reverses?  Are  we  faithless  the  moment  that  God  withdraws 
himself  for  a  little  while  from  us?  0  fools  and  slow  of  heart 
to  believe  !  "  God  is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  lie,  neither  the 
son  of  man,  that  he  should  repent :  Hath  he  said  and  shall 
He  not  do  it  ?  or  hath  He  spoken  and  shall  He  not 
make  it  good  ?"  And  how  could  He  more  plainly  have 
spoken,  than  by  the  acts  cff  his  Spirit  and  of  his  Providence 
which  we  have  just  recalled  to  your  minds.  Even  while 
he  was  threatening  judgment  against  the  Israelites,  his  com- 
forting words  were  "For  I  am  the  Lord,  I  change  not ;  there- 
fore ye  sons  of  Jacob  are  not  consumed." 

Why  then,  you  will  ask,  if  God  is  so  clearly  on  our  side, 
are  we  so  sorely  pressed  and  made  to  bleed  at  every  pore  ? 
Why  do  our  enemies  triumph  over  us,  and  spoil  our  homes 
and  desolate  our  hearth  stones?  Why  are  our  young  men 
smittan  and  our  houses  filled  with  lamentation  ?  Why  does 
the  widow  send  up  her  wail  before  the  Lord  and  why  does 
the  orphan  weep  because  he  is  fatherless  ?  Why  are  all  faces 


A  SERMON.  IT 


filled  with  anxiety  and  every  brow  with  care  ?     My  hearers, 
it  requires  no  research,  nor   any  ingenuity  to  answer  this 
question.     Our  Bibles  answer  it  very  directly  and  very  plain- 
ly.   What  you  suppose  hard  of  reconcilement,  was  asked  by 
the  people  of  Israel  thousands  of  years  ago,  and  has   been 
asked  ever  since  by  the  people  of  God  under  whatever  dis- 
pensation and  in  whatever  condition.     Did  not  Moses   say, 
when  he  was  recapitulating  to  the  Israelites  the  wonders  of 
God  in  their  behalf,  "  For  what   nation  is  there   so  great, 
who  hath  God  so  nigh  unto  them   as  the  Lord  your  God  is 
in  all  things  that  we  call  upon  him  for  ?"     And  yet  this  did 
not  hinder  but  that  the  Israelites  were  discomfited   in  battle, 
were  slain  by  the  sword,  were  visited  with  pestilence,  were 
often  reduced  to  very  great  straits  and  extremities.  :  Those  of 
whom  God  is  intending  to  make   a  nation  to  do  his  work 
upon  earth,  are  precisely  those  whom  he  tries  most  severely. 
His  purpose  is  to  give  them  not  merely  victory,  but  charac- 
ter ;  not  only  independence,  but  righteousness;  not  peace 
alone,  but  the  will  to  do  good,  after  peace  shall  have  been 
established.      His  plan,  when   his  hand  is  upon  a  people  for 
good,  is  to  discipline  as  well  as  to  support — to  support  through 
discipline,  for  moral  discipline,  like  military  discipline,  gives 
strength  and  power.     His  severity  goes  along  with  his  good- 
ness ;  he  so  intermingles  them  that  the  one  may  temper  the 
other  and  keep  down  effeminacy  and  presumption.     If  you 
suppose,  because  God  is  with  you,  that  you  are  to  run  on 
from  victory  to  victory,  without  any  regard  to  their  morai  effect 
upon  you,  you  will  bring  upon  yourselves   much  bitter  dis- 
appointment.     The    law    which    God    has    established  for 
nations  as  well  as  for  individuals,  that  any  high  standard  of 
virtue — virtue  which  may  be  relied  upon  to  withstand  temp- 
tation and  to  resist  corruption — must  be  gained  through  the 
discipline  of  suffering,  is  always  inflexibly  worked  out. 

When  we  assume  the  ground  that   God  has  taken  us,  in 

spite  of  our  sins,  under  his  especial  care  and  guardianship, 

we  must  prepare  ourselves  to  carry  on  this  struggle  under  the 

conditions  which    this    sacred  relationship    involves.      We 

3 


18  A  SERMON. 

have  made  our  choice  before  the  world,  boasting  that  the 
Lord  is  our  God — not  only  boasting  of  it,  but  until  lately 
rejoicing  in  it — and  we  believe  that  he  has  graciously  accept- 
ed our  proffered  allegiance.     We  have  said  "  The  hand  of 
the  Lord  our  God  is  upon  all  them  for  good  that  seek  him," 
and  shall  we  faint  and  be  bewildered,  and  know  not  where 
to  turn,  the  instant  we  encounter  difficulties  in   the  way  ? 
Shall  we  be  looking  to  the  right  hand  and  to  the  left,  with 
trembling  limbs  and  countenances  of  dismay,  when  we  have 
boasted  to  the  world  that  we  have  such  an  ally  as  the  Lord 
of  Hosts  ?     Ezra  was  ashamed,  when  he  had  made  such  an 
utterance  to  Artaxerxes,  to  require  of  him  a  band  of  soldiers 
and  horsemen  to  help  him  and  his  against  the  enemy  in  the 
way.  What  did  he?  He  proclaimed  a  fast  at  the  river  of  Ahava, 
that  he  and  his  might  afflict  themselves  before  their  God  to 
seek  of  him  a  right  way  for  them,  and  for  their  little  ones,  and 
for  all  their  substance.     That  was  his  course  ;  a   faithful 
and  a  consistent  one,  and  it  had  its  reward,  as  faithfulness 
and  consistency  always  will,  of  entire   success.     The  Lord 
turned  his  face  once  more  upon  them  and  showed   them 
that  right  way  which  they  sought  after.     "  So  we  fasted," 
is  his   simple  and  beautiful  language,  "  and  besought  our 
God  for  this ;  and  he  was  entreated  of  us." 

Most  surely  do  we  need,  my  hearers,  at  this  moment,  to 
have  the  right  way  pointed  out  to  us — "  the  right  way  for  us, 
and  for  our  little  ones,  and  for  all  our  substance."  We  are 
sadly  out  of  the  way.  We  have  lost  sight  of  the  land  marks 
which  directed  us  so  safely  upon  our  first  setting  out.  We 
seem  to  have  forgotten  the  resolution  with  which  we  entered 
upon  this  journey  towards  the  promised  land  of  our  national 
independence — the  resolution  to  suffer  anything  and  to  lose 
everything  rather  than  fail  in  our  purpose.  We  appear  to 
have  abated  the  enthusiasm  which  swept  everything  before 
it  in  the  outset — which  hurried  our  sons  to  the  field,  our 
wives  and  daughters  to  the  hospitals,  ourselves  to  any  and 
every  work  which  we  could  undertake  for  the  advancement 
of  the  cause.     We  have  grown  apathetic,  if  not  indifferent. 


A  SERMON.  19 


We  are  murmuring  and  complaining,  and  some  are  begin- 
ing  to  ask  of  our  leaders  "  And  wherefore  hath  the  Lord 
brought  us  unto  this  land,  to  fall  by  the  sword,  that  our 
wives  and  our  children  should  be  a  prey  ?  were  it  not  better 
for  us  to  return  into  Egypt  ?"  What  shall  we  do  ?  How 
are  we  once  again  to  regain  our  lost  devoted ness  and  to 
string  ourselves  afresh  for  the  duties  and  the  sacrifices  which 
are  before  us  ?  We  must  follow  the  example  of  Ezra.  We 
must  afflict  ourselves  before  our  God — we  must  fast  and  be- 
seech the  Lord  to  give  us  true  repentance  and  grace  to  do 
the  first  works. 

"  In  the  early  history  of  the  Roman  Republic,  there  yawn- 
ed in  the  centre  of  the  Forum  a  deep  and  dark  abyss — an 
abyss  that  had  opened  of  its  own  accord,  and  had  hourly 
grown  wider  and  wider  and  threatened  to  cngulph  all  Rome. 
The  Chief  Augur,  upon  secret  consultation  with  the  Sen- 
ate, uttered  these  solemn  words  : 

u  People  of  Rome  !  a  heavy  doom  hangs  over  our  beloved 
city!  The  wrath  of  the  Gods  has  been  kindled  against  you  ; 
and  in  that  black  abyss  you  behold  its  token.  See  !.  it  gapes 
with  greedy  jaws  to  swallow  Rome,  and  each  hour  that  it 
remains  unclosed,  Avill  it  become  wider  and  wider,  till  do- 
mestic hearth,  sacred  altar,  Senate  house,  Capitol,  all  shall 
be  engulphed." 

"  Yet  may  the  doom  be  averted  by  a  fitting  oblation.  The 
angry  Deities  demand  a  sacrifice — a  sacrifice  of  that,  what* 
soever  it  be,  which  is  the  most  precious  of  sublunary  things. 
They  have  not  intimated  to  us  what  is  the  sacrifice  they  de- 
mand ;  that  is  left  to  your  own  judgment  and  your  own 
faith. 

tk  Choose  ye  that  which  ye  deem  most  valuable,  and  cast 
it  unreluctantly  into  this  gulf.  If  the  sacrifice  be  acceptable, 
the  chasm  will  close  ;  if  it  continues  open,  seek  ye,  by  a  fur- 
ther offering  to  propitiate  the  Deities.  Is  there  one,  0  Ro- 
mans, who  would  hesitate  a  moment  to  give  his  best,  his 
most  valued,  nay  all  iiu  possesses  for  his  fellow  citizens  and 
his  country  ?     Shall  Rome  pass  away  ere  she  is  out  of  her 


20  A  SERMON. 


infancy,  because  ye  selfishly  love  aught  more  than  Rome  ? 
Or  shall  she  endeavour  to  fulfil  a  glorious  destiny,  purchased 
by  the  generous  sacrifice  of  her  sons  ?" 

"  The  augur  had  scarcely  ceased,  when  he  was  answered 
by  an  unanimous  and  animated  shout — Rome  !  Rome  ! !  let 
her  be  perpetual.  V 

"Down  into  the  abyss  were  poured  showers  of  glittering 
coin,  the  hoarded  wealth  of  the  citizens.  But  the  abyss 
closed  not ;  money  was  too  cheap  a  sacrifice  for  such  a 
blessing.  " 

"  Next  advanced  the  matrons  of  Rome  in  regular  order, 
each  bearing  the  caskets  in  which  were  contained  her  most 
valued  ornaments  and  her  most  precious  jewels  And  as 
they  passed,  they  sang  a  solemn  chant  and  cast  into  the  abyss 
their  sparkling  gems.  One  flash  of  light  and  they  were  gone. 
But  the  abyss  closed  not;  Gems  were  too  cheap  a  sacrifice 
for  such  a  blessing.  " 

"  There  was  a  dead  silence,  and  a  troubled  eye  was  fixed 
upon  that  greedy  abyss,  that  had  received  so  much  and  yet 
demanded  more. " 

"  Suddenly  a  shout  arose  upon  the  outskirts  of  the  crowd. 
The  tramp  of  a  steed  was  heard  ;  the  throng  gave  way  and 
a  noble  warrior  dashed  towards  the  abyss,  reined  up  his 
steed  and  with  a  motion  of  his  spear  commanded  silence.  " 

"Romans,"  said  Curtius,  "ye  have  offered  sacrifice  of 
your  possessions,  of  your  treasures,  of  your  affections,  but 
who  has  offered  the  sacrifice  of  self  ?  Trust  me,  Romans,  it 
is  the  sacrifice  of  self  that  is  the  most  precious.  " 

"  With  these  words,  rider  and  steed  plunged  into  the  un- 
fathomable abyss.  There  was  a  moment  of  dreadful  feel- 
ing—  a  moment  that  seemed  an  age.  Slowly  the  abyss 
closed ;  the  self  sacrifice  was  received,  and  Rome  was  de- 
livered. " 

Has  not  this  legend  of  ancient  Rome,  thus  graphically 
described  by  an  English  writer,  a  deep  and  rich  moral  for  us 
at  this  critical  moment !  We  have  freely  cast  into  the  black 
abyss  of  this  war  our  wealth,  our  treasures,  our  children,  but 


A  SERMON.  21 


have  we  sacrificed  self  ?  Have  we  determined  to  give  up 
everything,  if  need  be,  for  the  cause  of  our  country  ;  to  lay 
down  upon  its  altar  our  private  and  personal  griefs  ;  to  over- 
come our  prejudices,  to  forget  our  enmities,  to  put  under  foot 
our  jealousies?  Have  we  resolved  to  bear  all  things  from 
man  or  God,  neglect,  humiliation,  suffering,  rather  than  be  a 
hindrance  in  the  way  of  success  ?  It  is  far  easier  to  cast  into 
this  gulf  such  things  as  property,  money,  treasures,  j^ems,  and 
even  sons, than  it  is  to  strip  ourselves  ofvanity, of  self-conceit, 
of  prideof  opinion,  of  ambition,  of  evil  habits,  of  those  things 
which  make  up  our  identity.  Self!  self  !  !  in  how  many  sub 
tie.  deceitful  guises  does  it  dress  itself!  under  how  many 
high  sounding  names  does  it  mask  itself!  How  terrible  it  is 
to  think  that  the  like  features  of  a  noble  nature,  the  deep 
earnestness,  the  heroic  self-denial,  the  labor  night  and  day, 
the  intense  concentration,  can  arise  from  impulses  so  opposite 
and  that  patriotism,  one  of  the  nobiest,  and  selfishness  one  of 
the  meanest  motives,  have  but  the  same  machinery  to  work 
with.  And  yet  so  it  is.  The  impulse  which  would  make  a 
man  a  hero,  a  martyr,  a  being  to  live  in  his  country's  heart 
forever,  is  as  wide  apart  from  that  which  makes  him  a  selfish 
creature,  living  within  himself  and  for  himself,  with  no 
aspirations  higher  than  his  own  interests  or  his  own  wants^ 
as  is  inspiration  from  Heaven  and  cunning  from  earth,  and 
yet  the  instruments  of  their  work  are  strikingly  alike,  so 
strikingly  as  to  make  not  only  others,  but  ourselves,  unable 
to  distinguish  them.  It  is  very  often  by  their  fruits  only — 
the  one  reaping  in  the  end  honour,  admiration,  the  world's 
immortality;  the  other,  the  ashes  of  all  their  expectations — 
that  we  can  finally  separate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  the 
pure  gold  from  the  worthless  dross. 

In  turning  ourselves, therefore  to  God  in  fasting  and  prayer, 
let  us  truly  humble  ourselves  and  beseech  Him  to  show  us 
our  own  hearts  and  to  convict  us  especially  of  those  sins 
which  are  offensive  to  him  and  which  have  placed  us  in  the 
wrong  way  There  should  be  great  searchings  of  heart 
to-day.     From  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States,  who 


22  A    SERMON. 


now  occupies,  for  a  time,  the  most  responsible  position  in  the 
world,  to  the  humblest  person  who  is  involved  in  their 
destiny,  each  one  of  us  should  examine  himself  and  find  out, 
if  possible,  wherein  he  has  offended  God  and  turned  away 
his  face  from  us.  Let  us  not  be  looking  at  and  criticising 
others;  let  each  one  look  at  himself  We  shall  find  sins 
enough  in  ourselves  to  mourn  over,  without  laying  all  the 
blame  upon  our  neighbour's  doings.  Let  the  spirit  of  the 
Publican — "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner  "  be  with  us 
rather  than  that  of  the  Pharisee  which  is  now  so  common  • 
"  I  thank  thee,  0  God,  that  I  am  not  as  other  men  are,  ex- 
tortioners, unjust,  adulterers,  or  even  as  this  Publican. " 
My  pride  of  opinion,  if  I  be  one  in  authority,  may  be  doing 
as  much  harm  to  the  cause,  both  with  man  and  God,  as 
another  man's  covetousness.  My  vanity  and  self-conceit 
may  work  as  much  mischief,  if  I  be  in  a  position  to  make  them 
felt,  as  your  love  of  ease  or  your  indifference  to  the  cause. 
It  is  the  aggregate  of  sinfulness  that  is  working  our  ruin  . 
that  is  eating  out  the  heart  and  spirit  of  the  cause,  eating  it 
out  naturally  and  consequentially,  for  one  sin  leads  inevita- 
bly to  another.  The  confidence  which  grew  out  of  continued 
victory  led  to  presumption  and  presumption  led  to  security 
and  the  feeling  of  security  begat  within  the  community  the 
desire  of  wealth,  which  circumstances  seemed  to  place  within 
every  man's  grasp.  And  this  making  haste  to  be  rich  took 
rapid  possession  of  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  whole  people- 
Commencing  with  those  who  were  legitimately  engaged  in 
commerce  and  trade,  it  soon  extended  to  the  farming  interests 
of  the  country  and  from  them  was  communicated  to  the 
soldier  in  the  camp  and  the  officer  in  the  garrison.  Every 
man  became  anxious  to  take  part  in  this  garr.e  which  was  to 
enrich  himself,  without  seeing  that  it  would,  most  certainly, 
ruin  his  country.  Men  were  seen  skulking  in  every  way  to 
avoid  service  in  the  army,  not  from  cowardice,  not  from 
any  doubt  about  the  value  of  the  conflict  or  the  certainty  of 
its  success,  but  that  they  might  be  at  liberty  to  mingle  in 
this  mad  hunt  after  money.     Feeble  substitutes  were  put  in 


A    SERMON.  23 


the  place  of  able  bodied  men  ;  hundreds  sought  exemption 
upon  pleas  which  they  would  never  have  dreamed  to  offer  ex- 
cept under  the  influence  of  this  all-pervading  madness,  and  the 
soldier,  who   had  retained  his  early  enthusiasm  and  was 
ready  to  sacrifice  every  thing  for  the  cause,  grew  dissatisfied 
when  he  perceived  that  he  was  to  bear  and  to  suffer,  while 
others,  as  able-bodied  as  himself  and  as  deeply  interested  in 
the  struggle,  remained  at  home  to   speculate  and  grow  rich 
upon  his  endurance  and  his  sufferings.     Just  as  victory  was 
foreshadowed  at  the  beginning  in  the  earnestness   of  every 
heart,  in  the  devotion  of  every  spirit,  in  the  one  concentrated 
idea   of  victory  and  independence,    so  was  defeat  just   as 
plainly  foreshadowed  in  the  distraction  of  the    public  mind, 
in  the  struggle  which  rapidly  grew  up  between  the  adminis- 
tration and  the  people,  in  the  complaining    and  the  mur- 
muring against  the  inefficiency  of  the  armies,  which  was  but 
the    natural    result    of  the  demoralization  of  the  country. 
And  man  could  not  arrest  it.     He    might   force    the  body? 
but  he  could  not  give  the  spirit.     He  might  carry  the  man 
to  the  camp,  but   he  could  not  impart  the  dash  which  dis- 
tinguishes   him    whose    heart  is    in    the    work.     What   we 
should  now  ask  of  God  is,  that  he  would  revive  within  us 
those  qualities  of  mind  and  of  heart — so  near  akin  to  the  graces 
of  the  spirit — which   qualify  us  for  carrying  on  our  conflict 
successfully,    earnestness,   singleness    of  purpose,    honesty, 
integrity.     The  whole  people  need  to  be  aroused   and  the 
government  should  take  the  lead,  under  God,  in  doing  it. 
The  chord  of  sympathy  which  vibrated  so  harmoniously  in 
the  past,  must   be   touched  anew.     This  is  not  a  warfare 
which  can  be  coldly  left  to  the  Government  and  the  army  ; 
it  is  the  cause,  emphatically,  of  the  whole  nation — of  every 
man,  woman  and  child   in   the  Confederacy.     In    vain   are 
conscriptions  and  impressments  ;  in  vain  are  proclamations 
and  fastings,  unless  after  we  shall  have  fasted  and  prayed, 
we  use  means  to  rekindle  the  sacred  fire  of  patriotism  which 
burned  so  vividly  in  the  outburst  of  this  revolution.     Where 
is  the  orator?     Where  is    the  statesman?     Where  are  the 


24  A    SERMON. 


voices  which,  like  a  trumpet's  blast,  led  on  the  soldier  to  the 
field  of  glory — of  glory,  because  the  field  of  duty  ?  They  are 
all  mute;  some  silent  in  death,  some  wrapped  in  inglorious 
ease.  Is  this  the  time  for  him  who  has  the  divine  gift  of 
eloquence  to  keep  it  pent  within  his  own  burning  bosom  ? 
Is  this  an  hour  when  any  man,  who  can  sway  his  fellow 
men,  who  can  enkindle  his  hope  with  lips  touched  with  a 
live  coal  from  off  the  altar,  or  excite  his  fears  with  the  dark 
shadows  of  coming  events,  should  leave  his  country  and  his 
country's  hopes  to  drift  to  ruin  without  one  effort  to  arrest  the 
misery  ?  Where  are  the  people  themselves  ?  Where  is  that 
influence  of  the  multitude  which  is  so  terrible  for  evil,  so 
powerful  for  good  ?  Where  is  the  low  sweet  voice  of  woman 
which  has  mingled  so  harmoniously  thro'  all  this  tumult  with 
the  clangor  of  the  trumpet  and  the  clash  of  arms  ?  Why  is 
it  unheard  ?  Has  grief  frozen  it  within  her  bosom  or  has 
terror  hushed  it  into  silence  ?  Awake  to  the  reality  of  things 
and  arouse  yourselves,  children  of  the  sun,  or  God's  hand  will 
not  be  with  you.  '<  Wherefore  criest  thou  unto  me,  "  said 
the  Lord  to  Moses,  when  he  and  his  people  were  hedged  up 
among  the  mountains,  with  the  fierce  Egyptians  in  their  rear? 
and  the  deep  waters  of  the  red  sea  before  them,  "  speak  unto 
the  children  of  Israel  that  they  go  forward. " 

Forward,  my  hearers,  forward,  with  our  shields  locked 
and  our  trust  in  God,  is  our  only  movement  now.  It  is  too 
late  even  to  go  backward.  We  might  have  gone  backward 
a  year  ago,  when  our  armies  were  victoriously  thundering  at 
the  gates  of  Washington  and  were  keeping  at  successful  bay 
the  Hessians  of  the  West,  had  we  been  content  to  bear  hu- 
miliation for  ourselves  and  degradation  for  our  children. 
But  even  that  is  no  longer  left  us.  It  is  now  victory  or  un- 
conditional submission  ;  submission  not  to  the  conservative 
and  christian  people  of  the  North,  but  to  a  party  of  infidel 
fanatics,  with  an  army  of  needy  and  greedy  soldiers  at  their 
backs.  Who  shall  be  able  to  restrain  them  in  their  hour  of 
victory  ?  When  that  moment  approaches,  when  the  danger 
shall  seem  to  be  over  and  the  spoils  are  ready  to  be  divided, 


A  SERMON  25 


every  outlaw  will  rush  to  fill  their  ranks,  every  adventurer 
will  hasten  to  swell  their  legions,  and  they  will  sweep  down 
upon  the  South  as  the  hosts  of  Attila  did  upon  the  fertile 
fields  of  Italy.  And  shall  you  find  in  defeat  that  mercy 
which  you  did  not  find  in  victory  ?  Von  may  slumber  now, 
but  you  will  awake  to  a  tearful  reality. >/You  may  lie  upon 
your  beds  of  ease  and  dream  that  when  it  is  all  over,  you 
will  be  welcomed  back  to  ail  the  privileges  and  immunities 
of  greasy  citizens,  but  how  terrible  will  be  your  disappoint- 
ment !  You  will  have  an  ignoble  home,  overrun  by  hordes 
of  insolent  slaves  and  rapacious  soldiers.  You  will  wear 
the  badge  of  a  conquered  race,  Pariahs  among  your  fellow 
creatures,  yourselves  degraded,  your  delicate  wives  and  gentle 
children  thrust  down  to  menial  service,  insulted  perhaps  dis- 
honored. Think  you  that  these  victorious  hordes,  made  up 
in  large  part  of  the  sweepings  of  Europe,  will  leave  you  any- 
thing? As  well  might  the  lamb  expect  mercy  from  the 
wolf.  Power,  which  is  checked  und  fettered  by  a  doubtful 
contest,  is  very  different  from  power  victorious,  triumphant 
and  irresponsible.  The  friends  whom  you  have  known  and 
loved  at  the  North  ;  who  have  sympathized  with  you  in  your 
trials  and  to  whom  you  might  have  looked  for  comfort  and 
protection,  will  have  enough  to  do  then  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves. The  surges  that  sweep  over  us,  will  carry  them  away 
in  its  refluent  tide.  Oh  !  for  the  tongue  of  a  Prophet  to  paint 
for  you  what  is  before  you,  unless  you  recent  and  turn  to 
the  Lord  and  realize  that  "  His  hand  is  upon  all  them  for 
good  that  seek  him.  "  The  language  of  Scripture  is  alone 
adequate  to  describe  it — "  The  earth  mourneth  and  languish- 
eth  :  Lebanon  is  ashamed  and  hewn  down:  Sharon  is  like  a 
wilderness.  They  that  did  feed  delicately  are  desolate  in  the 
streets:  they  that  were  brought  up  in  scarlet  embrace  dung- 
hills. They  ravished  the  women  in  Zion  and  the  maids  in  the 
cities  of  Judah.  They  took  the  young  men  to  grind,  and  the 
children  fell  under  the  wood.  The  joy  of  our  heart  is  ceased  ; 
our  dance  is  turned  into  mourning.  The  crown  is  fallen 
from  our  head  :  wo  unto  us  that  we  have  sinned.  " 
4 


26  A  SERMON. 


Let  us  turn  then  this  day  to  the  Lord  our  God  with  all  our 
heart  and  soul  and  mind,  believing  that  His  hand  is  upon 
all  them  for  good  that  seek  him,  trusting  that  He  will  shew 
us  the  right  way  for  us  and  for  our  little  ones,  and  for  all 
our  substance.  Let  our  prayer  be  that  which  Milton  offered 
against  the  enemies  of  his  country — "  Let  them  all  take 
counsel  together  and  let  it  come  to  nought ;  let  them  decree 
and  do  thou  cancel  it;  let  them  gather  themselves  and  be 
d  :  let  them  embattle  themselves  and  be  broken  ;  let 
Lbattle  and  be  broken,  lor  thou  art  with  us." 


Hollinger  Corp. 
PH8.5 


